A former Nazi officer who was extradited from Canada last May where he had lived legally since 1950 was charged today in a Frankfurt court with the murder of more than 11,500 Lithuanian Jews during World War II.
According to the charges against Albert Rauca, 75, he was a member of the Nazi secret police in Kaunas during the German occupation and that he selected men, women and children for firing-squad executions and that he personally shot one person. Rauca has insisted that he is innocent since he was arrested at his home in Canada last May. He was flown to West Germany on an extradition warrant.
The public prosecutor said Rauca was being charged with only three separate actions in which 11,583 Jews died, although he is suspected of being responsible for many more murders. The prosecutor said some 60 witnesses from Israel, West Germany, Austria and South Africa would appear at the trial to testify. Rauca is being held in custody until a trial. No date has been set.
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